Little Moments
by JDoe012998
Summary: This was origionally a one-shot, but... Well, now it's not. This is gonna be a series of Chekov/Uhura cuteness. All one-shots. No romance implied.  Rated T for language, and possible content later on. No idea where it's going. Thoughts welcomed, please.
1. Little Moment

"Hey kiddo." Nyota smiled, giving Chekov's shoulder a light squeeze.

The Russian winced slightly at the pressure, but smiled in return. "Uhura." She chuckled at his pronunciation of her name, something that always made the boy smile.

"Everything ok, Pavel? Lookin' a little rough around the edges." She placed a gentle finger under his chin, compelling him to look up.

"I am fine." He lied easily.

"No you're not." Her eyes narrowed minutely. Nyota crouched by Pavel's chair and pressed a hand lightly to his forehead. She then proceeded to run her hands up his arms, pinpointing the spots where he flinched. All this he endured wordlessly. Nyota had, as the only woman in the Bridge, taken on the job of surrogate mother to the youngest crewman.

"No, you're not." She repeated. Over her shoulder, she said, "Captain, I'm borrowing Chekov until further notice." At Kirk's slightly raised eyebrow – yes, even Jim picked things up from a Vulcan – she sighed irritably. "Get your goddamn head out of the goddamn gutter, Farmboy."

"Really, Nyota, I'm fine!" Pavel insisted.

"No. Come on." She all but dragged him out of his chair, and pulled him into the lift. She stopped it midway to Sickbay, and looked at him sternly. "Ok kiddo. You and I both know you can't lie to me. What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" He insisted, his voice growing high and his accent thicker as he tried to deny the obvious.

She took his face in gentle hands. "You flinch when we touch you, you don't want to talk about anything but work, you've stopped running animatedly through the halls because you just _know_ your better at something than the person doing it. You haven't been like this since Amanda. What's wrong?"

A rush of guilt drowned him for a moment at Amanda Greyson's name. "It is nothing. You have better things to think about."

She paused a moment, before demanding, "Off with the shirt, Pavel. Now." Daring not resist, he reluctantly pulled his shirt over his head. Nyota's quick hand was instantly on his wrist, extending his arm away from his body, the other tracing the nasty gashes lined up neatly along his left arm.

"Baby…" She stared in blatant disbelief. He knew the word from her lips so well, it barely registered. She spoke to him like she would her own son, and treated him much the same. In private, anyway. She would never risk their careers that way.

"It is…"

"Say 'nothing', and you die." She snapped. "Why?"

"I…" His thin mask cracked under her protective eye, and his words came so quickly she could barely understand. "People always say I am too young to be on a Starship like the _Enterprise_. That I signed on too young, that I got my position too easily… And then Amada… I didn't want to feel like a failure anymore."

Her face melted into the tender and sympathetic expression so few people saw. She snaked a hand around to the back of his neck, the other going around his waist as she pulled him close. He was only a smidge taller than her, affording him the ability to bury his face safely in her shoulder, taking in the familiar scent.

"Baby, you're never a failure. You're just young. But hey, you're just a kid, and you still made _Enterprise_. Do you have any idea how wonderful that makes you?"

"They should not have let a kid onto the ship." He insisted.

She pulled away and sank to the floor, her back against the wall. She patted the spot next to her, and he followed suit. Nyota put an arm around his shoulders, and he leaned comfortably against her.

"You aren't really a kid, hon. You're young, you're still just a boy, but you see what needs doing and you do it. You're a man before your time. That's what they don't like about you. They don't like that you're better at what they do than they are."

"People always call me a child when they think I do not hear-"

"Honey, when are you going to learn?" She moaned playfully. "'People' are asses, and life is a bitch. It's the way it is." Pavel snorted. She'd said that so very, very many times.

"I know, Ny."

She reached down to grab his wrist again. "And if you don't stop this, I'm gonna kick your ass so hard you're gonna _be_ a black hole. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am." He nodded vigorously.

"Sickbay." She said firmly to start the lift again. Then, leaning softly into Pavel's curls, she murmured, "That's my baby."

There was something wonderful about having the mother now he'd never had as a child, so he took no negative feelings from being eighteen and hearing such terms of endearment.

"Nyota?"

"Yes?"

"You will not tell the Captain about this, will you?"

"Of course not." She squeezed his shoulders a little harder. "Of course not."

"Thank you." The words were almost silent, but conveyed everything he wanted to say. His gratitude for everything since joining Starfleet. For her always taking care of him.

She smiled into his hair. "Always, baby."

The doors of the lift whooshed open, and Dr. McCoy glanced in. Neither Uhura nor the boy looked up, or seemed to realize the door had opened, so he simply smiled and went about his duties. There was no reason to ruin their little moment.


	2. Green Tea and Coffee

**A/N: Ok, well, originally there was a disclaimer and all kinds of other crap inside the first one-shot. But, that got lost in the mail. So here it is now: **

**Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever owned Star Trek or anything involved. If I did, hell, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, I'd be writing the screenplay for movie number 2!**

**Hope you folks enjoy!**

It wasn't a happy day for anyone on the _U.S.S Enterprise_. They'd been docked three days, and, back home, the immeasurable losses had to be faced. Each starship was a little community all its own, and on board, you mourned one at a time, as people were lost. Back home… Back home, the friend you'd had since kindergarten might still be there, but he might be the only friend you still had.

That was much how it was for Nyota. Gaila, her Orion roommate, had been killed. So had Sarah, John, Jena, Cory, and countless others she'd hoped to share the wonders of space with. She'd never felt quite so alone. Spock was still more distant than usual, trying to make a decision about his future. Jim was suffering bravely through the trial, and getting the _Enterprise_ back in working order. Bones would sit and chat for a minute, when they passed in the cafeteria, but really, no one else was still there for her.

She'd have been glad to talk to Sulu, if he was around. And she barely knew the man.

She found herself, like so many times before, sitting at a counter of an off-campus diner, trying to drown her sorrows in coffee.

She heard the barstool protest when someone took the seat, a few stools away to her right, but didn't look up.

"Green tea, please." Nyota knew that voice, damn it. She knew that voice and she didn't want to. She wanted someone to talk to, but not the kid.

"Lieutenant Uhura?" Her crewmate asked softly.

"Yes?" She returned.

"Miss Uhura, I… I wanted to know you were alright? I have not seen you smile lately…"

"Oh, I'm fine. Just lonely, I guess. I… I lost a lot of good friends." She offered a sad smile, before looking back at the cup between her palms.

"Yes. There are many people I miss also. I had a friend on the _Enterprise_ who was hurt. Someone I looked up to very much."

"Tell me about him." Nyota said absently, not really thinking about the implications. The _Enterprise_ meant it was someone she knew, too.

"Her. Well… She had dark skin, like chocolate. Her eyes were brown. She had long black hair, and a bright smile. She was the best communications officer we had." She looked up to raise an eyebrow quizzically, taking the time to curse Spock's name for the action.

"You are not the same, Uhura. You may be physically fine, but not so underneath."

She smirked. "You're a smart little kid, aren't you Pavel?"

"I'm not a little kid." He said, somewhat indignantly. "I am seventeen."

"You're little to me."

He shrugged at that.

"You're right, too. I miss so many people… It's just… Hard. Nearly everyone I knew was on a different ship…"

"It was the same for many of us. Have you spoken to Commander Spock?"

Nyota knew that there was a sneaking suspicion about her and the Vulcan, but the question still took her off guard. "No. Why?"

"We have not seen much of him since we landed. I had a question yesterday, and I went by his office. He covered it when I entered, but he seemed upset. He lost many students in this, as well as his home."

"I suppose you're right. I just don't know what to say to him anymore… What _do_ you say to someone, after they lose everything?"

Pavel thought for a minute. "Normally, you would apologize. Say that you are sorry for their loss. To a Vulcan… To a Vulcan, you say that you wish things were different. That you wish there was something you could do. You say… That you will be there for them, even if they do not think they need it. Tell him that he has people behind him to lean on."

She turned on her stool to look him in the eye. "Who are we talking about, here?"

He shrugged. "Whoever you think we're talking about."

Nyota shook her head, sliding off the stool. "You're a smart little kid, Pavel." She noted, laying a hand on his shoulder as she passed.

"Thank you." He muttered as the door closed.


End file.
